Trying again after having FINALLY sorted my Outlook Express settings out (grumble grumble-- new computer)...
To add to Neil's argument, I'd like to point out something that the sociologist Erving Goffman said about gender roles in a study of advertisements. He noted that certain stereotyped roles are set up between men and women in advertising photos (e.g. man speaking, woman listening). He also noticed that these were sometimes reversed, but that when this happened, the viewer of the image, knowing the conventions of the advertising photo, would see the reversed image *with the conventional image in mind.*
So if, for instance, we saw Mr Humphries rescuing Xena, we would be seeing that image knowing that the "normal" version of events would be James Kirk rescuing Uhura, and bearing it in mind on some level. This is why you often get that sort of role reversal in comedies-- or, to pick up on Neil's reference to H. Rider Haggard, why She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed is such a disturbing figure.
Or, to put it another way: if it had been Vila or Gan in the "saviour role," we would be viewing it knowing that *conventionally* it should have been Avon or Blake, and our interpretations of it would stem from that fact. If you don't believe me, go back and watch "City at the Edge of the World" again.
Now *there's* a story bearing a bit of looking at. OK, rottweilers: if it had been Avon as the focus of "City," would Kerrill still have wound up all girly in a frock at the end, or would she have carried on being tough and macho?
Fiona
The Posthumous Memoirs of Secretary Rontane Available for public perusal at http://nyder.r67.net
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